Cromwell company Bamford Contracting has been put into receivership and a Balclutha pre-cast concrete plant is laying off seven workers.
Bamford owner Graham Bamford told the Otago Daily Times the receivership came as a surprise this week, when Christchurch company Gough Finance and Insurance notified him of its intention to have the company put into receivership.
Mr Bamford started the business in Cromwell 21 years ago.
"The receivers turned up this week, locked the gates and that was that.
We had no warning or anticipation this was going to happen," he said.
Mr Bamford did not want to disclose details of the company's finances but said lawyers had been working to resolve issues.
Mr Bamford did not think receivership was necessary.
"There have been some discrepancies... we would like to come out of receivership if given the chance," he said.
Mr Bamford said all his equipment, which comprised about 20 heavy earthmoving machines, was towed away yesterday afternoon.
He had employed about 10 people, some on a permanent basis, and all had to be let go.
Most were from Cromwell, although some from Christchurch had been working on a contract in the city.
"I will be looking for a job and so will they," Mr Bamford said.
Bamford Contracting was commissioned by Contact Energy to remove thousands of tonnes of silt from the Manuherikia River near Alexandra.
Work on that project had just finished, he said.
"We are just lucky we had finished all our contracts. Work was tightening up, but there was still a bit to do," he said.
Gough risk manager Stephen Frayle confirmed the company had moved to put Bamford Contracting into receivership.
He referred all queries to receivers at PricewaterhouseCoopers, who could not be contacted last night.
• Seven jobs are to go at the Balclutha pre-cast concrete plant of Stahlton Engineered Concrete, a division of Fulton Hogan.
General manager Brian Robertson said from Auckland yesterday the branch's 35 staff were told of the need for redundancies at a meeting on Tuesday.
He hoped some staff could be redeployed to other parts of Fulton Hogan and other alternatives were being looked at.
He said the company had been "holding off" from making the cut, but the downturn in the building industry in Otago had left the plant "quite severely impacted".
